At first glance , the two - story stucco house located on Red Bark Lane in Henderson , Nevada , look very much the same as the neighboring home place in the South Valley Ranch residential area . Neutral exterior paint covers the sides and attached garage . A rock candy garden has been fan out over the soil . A cementum walkway leads from the driveway to the front room access .
Look nearer and the irregularities begin to appear . The house has protruding embayment window and a rounded front entrance , which are both strange for the prefabricated expression on the block . A lamp chimney stick out out from the ceiling , though Nevada residents are rarely in penury of a Sir Henry Joseph Wood - burning fire . Around the garage , some of the light - colored paint is flaking , revealing a cornea - blacken brilliant Orange River underneath .
Once upon a time , the house on Red Bark Lane was n’t just another destination in a sprawl suburban development : It was originally built as a nearly exact three - dimensional replication of 742 Evergreen Terrace , the Springfield abidance of Homer , Marge , Bart , Lisa , and Maggie Simpson . Working on a short agenda , architects and builder Delaware - fictionalized the dwelling house feature inThe Simpsonsfor a 1997 giveaway that was intended to leave onelucky fanwith the ultimate in animated cartoon memorabilia . Nodetailwas spared , from a intellectual nourishment dish for theircat , Snowball II , to Duff beer cans in the fridge .
Butcontroversysoon extravasate in this faux - Springfield mock - up . The homeowner ’s connexion was n’t cracking on have a toon house that broke conformation requirements by being painted solar yellow . The sweepstakes achiever reject it outright . And the current possessor had to get word to live with the property being a author of never-ending peculiarity for fan of the show who brazenly turn her doorknob and peer through her windowpane at all hours of the day and night . As it turns out , the world of living in a fantasy can get a little complicated .
A Marketing PloyPar Excellence
The Simpsonsis thelongest - runningprimetime scripted serial intelevisionhistory , surpassed in overall longevity only by daytime soaps , Sesame Street , and late - Nox creation . Despite criticisms that the show has exhausted its potential difference , it remains aprofitable empirefor the Fox web , with no proclaimed end in sight .
In 1997 , the show ’s hereafter was less sure . sale oftie - inSimpsonsmerchandisehad fallen off from its high gear in the early 1990s , where it had rake in roughly$2 billionduring a fevered explosion in popularity . Revenue had waned and so had licensee interest : The number of companies producingSimpsonsgoods dropped by 75 percent . In an attempt to reignite awareness , intersection merchant for the show planned amajor rolloutfor considerably - of VHS magnetic tape and a CD - ROM titledVirtual Springfieldthat would allow users to explore the house ’s hometown and interact with its regulars .
What the net need was a promotional fomite — something to drive pastime in both the show and its ancillary products . That musical theme amount not from within Fox , but from an outdoor selling expert who saw an chance for some bodied synergy . Jeff Charney was responsible for marketing at Kaufman and Broad , a home constructor look to advertize both its brand name and a new lodging development in Henderson , Nevada , about 16 nautical mile sou'-east of Las Vegas . While brainstorm in the shower , Charney got theideato erect a replication of the home . He brought it to Kaufman and Broad ’s builders , include undertaking manager Mike Woodley . After determining it was workable , the company pitched it to Fox , who make their favorable reception to proceed .
“ It was a big deal for Kaufman and Broad because it meant all kinds of pic , ” Woodley told Mental Floss in 2018 . " The sign of the zodiac itself was a pretty elementary box - on - corner design with a garage . I think I sketched it out in a day . ”
There was some precedent for the stunt . In the seventies , Kaufman and Broad chairman Bruce Karatz hadagreedto build a house on top of Au Printemps , a section store in Paris , with the idea that it would intrigue people enough to chit-chat the store ’s upper floors . When they reached the summit , a Kaufman and Broad sales rep was waiting to pitch them on grease one’s palms one of their homes .
The gimmick was hugely successful for both the detergent builder and Au Printemps — it pull more than 500,000 visitor in the four month it was open , and cement the company as one that thought well outside the stock merchandising box . “ Bruce was an innovative guy,”Simpsonshouse architect Manny Gonzalez told Mental Floss in 2018 . “ The easiest way to get publicity is to build a particular house . ”
A Normal House Disguised as 742 Evergreen Terrace
Once the project was O.K. , Woodley and Gonzalez pored over100 episodesof the show and storyboards on loan from the production to try and discern a layout . “ We took a trading floor programme we already had and did things that still had to meet building code but was evocative ofThe Simpsons , ” Gonzalez enounce . “ We never would have put in a rounded threshold or window in the spots they were in . ”
The team ’s finish was to be 90 percent normal , with episodic lapses intocartooncontinuity . Door frames were widened and lengthened toaccommodateMarge ’s fuzz and Homer ’s girth . The stairs lead to the 2d story were slenderly steeper than normal . The downstairs floor was poured and paint concrete rather than hardwood or carpet , the better to mime the show ’s 2-dimensional color . Bart’streehousewas erected in the backyard .
“ We knew someone had to last in it , so the kitchen was a little bigger than it is on the show , ” Woodley allege . “ It had to be a real household . ”
Construction was only part of the illusion . To get that live - in tone , a Hollywood production intriguer and photographer named Rick Floyd come in and accentuated the home with details that would impress the decisive eye of serial creator Matt Groening and die - knockout fans likewise . Floyd string up corn cob - patterned curtains in the kitchen ; Bart ’s sleeping accommodation press held a row of monovular shirt and shorts ; mouse holes were painted on the walls near the trading floor ; Lisa ’s saxophone tend against her bed . He even painted an oil stain in the driveway , a nod to Homer ’s lack ofautomotive maintenance . He also flagged down a fomite he saw while driving and offered the surprised owner $ 700 for it . multi-colour purple , it was a consummate friction match for the Simpsons ' iconic bicycle .
“ We essentially disguised a regular pamphlet home to bet likeThe Simpsonshome , ” Gonzalez enunciate .
As the sign of the zodiac come near completion in August 1997 after just four months of work , local Kaufman and Broad employee sometimes come by for a look . “ I drove by it when I was fraught with twins , ” Danielle , then a secretary for the company , told Mental Floss . “ Honestly , I declined to go in , because I was n’t a fan of the show and it was too hot . ”
By this point , Fox and Kaufman and Broad were order tours for locals and tourist hoping to bewitch a glimpse of the interior . Groening get along out for anappearanceand spraying - painted some Bart graffito on the garage before signing his name in the front path cement . line with delay time of more than two hours twisted around the block , and visitors were expected to wear out surgical - style booty to avert track in dirt from outside . Surprisingly , there were few attempts at swiping the decor .
“ We glued a lot of stuff down , ” Gonzalez read .
She Took the Cash
Fox kept the place open for tour of duty that fall , all for the aim of promoting the sweepstakes being advertize via Pepsi Cartesian product . Buying Mug Root Beer , Brisk Iced Tea , or Slice would net consumers anumberedgame part . If it matched the one program during the fall premiere of the show , they ’d be the winner of the replica home , which Kaufman and Broad valued at $ 150,000 . ( First - place prize : a one - yearsupplyof Mandarin Orange Slice . )
On September 21 , 1997 , those in monomania of the game piece watched “ The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson , ” an episode that was after get out from syndication for a brief period after the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks due to images and references to the World Trade Center . During the broadcast , the winning number was flashed onscreen .
Nothing happened .
Whoever hold the deliver the goods biz while ( turn 9786065 ) neverstepped forwardto claim their pillage . The back - up design was to choose at random one of the raffle forms that consumer could also present via mail . In December 1997 , it was announced the form chosenbelongedto Barbara Howard , a 63 - twelvemonth - old retired manufacturing plant worker from Richmond , Kentucky . She last in an area so rural that Fox ’s dispatched limo could n’t get down the soil road to her home . The meshing flew her in — her first clip on a plane — with her two daughter and grandson . She chance a little at the cassino and place for photo with a ceremonial jumbo headstone to her new family . She tell the press she was still trying to process her right fortune .
That December , with the epinephrine of withstand the odds having worn off , Howard came to a determination . She did n’t need the house after all .
“ She study the Johnny Cash , ” Gonzalez recalls of the sweepstakes outcome . “ You had the alternative of either the house or a cash loot , but the cash was considerably less than the note value of the planetary house . ”
Howard accepted $ 75,000 , which some observers found funny . Why ignore the attribute value ? Why not keep it open for tours ? The reasons were simple . Howard lived on an Struthio camelus and tobacco ( nottomacco ) farm in Kentucky with her husband , was perfectly comfortable there , and had no motivating to relocate . Opening it for tourism was more or less prohibited ; the householder ’s association wanted the orange and yellow-bellied outside repainted as soon as possible . She did briefly initiate the opening of having Kaufman and Broad move the house to her property , but the logistics of that made it implausible .
“ I do n’t think she was as blown away by it as her daughters were , ” Gonzalez say . “ I conceive she feel a little overwhelmed . There were all these photographers and writers . She was just a dim-witted country lady of the house . ”
“Like Being in a Crayola Box”
That left the portion of the house to Kaufman and Broad . Having sold over 100 homes in the development — which was eventually rename Spring Valley Ranch from Springfield Spring Valley Ranch — the attribute had already serve its purpose in merchandising exactly as the Au Printemps ceiling household had two decades prior . “ We were the fun home constructor instead of the production home builder , ” Gonzalez said .
Groening float the idea of blowing the house up on live television , which seemed improbable given its residential locating . It was repainted in subdued colors to gentle the householder ’s association . As it sat vacant , Kaufman designate 24 - time of day security so no one would ransack its contents . But by the second year , the guard ’ attention had waned , and people had managed to creep in and pilfer several of the design element . Glue traces mark where Simpson phratry “ photos ” had been pried off the wall . Snowball II ’s cat food dish was no more .
Kaufman and Broad considered tearing the house down or retrofitting it to conform to the vicinity and attract conventional buyers . But the most cost - effective way was to just sell it , even if it was below market value .
One day in 2001 , Danielle — the secretary who had previously shrugged at take a turn — was browsing the society ’s stock-taking when she derive across the address . At first , she did n’t associate it with the animated cartoon house she drove past four years prior . But the toll was correct , and she was in the market for a larger place .
“ I call for how much , they told me , and so I bought it , ” she said . “ As is . ”
With her married man and two boy , Danielle became the first — and only — occupant of the Simpson house . While the outside had been repainted , the interior was a dizzying palette of master people of color .
“ They had put in floor , but the rouge was original , so no two touching walls were the same color , ” she sound out . “ The master sleeping accommodation had a lilac cap , pinkish moulding , and four different - colored wall . It was like being in a Crayola box seat . ”
Someone had even stolen a tree from the backyard . Several room access that look like pantry storage opened into a wall . “ That was the state it was in , ” she tell . “ hoi polloi have enunciate , ‘ Oh , I would have just left it how it was . ’ It would have made me batty . ”
Danielle — who prefers not to use her last name for reasons that will shortly become clear — repainted walls and repaired wanting lump of drywall where looters had pried off portraits . She replaced rug , exposing the reddish floor underneath that her sons want to keep exposed . ( She declined . ) She had to repeatedly remind the taxation tax assessor that the home does n’t really have a fireplace .
render the home a makeover has n’t deterredSimpsonsfans from call for a pilgrimage there . Once , a radical of drunken college kids were banging on the door , yelling to be rent in . Danielle ’s sons initiate chatting with them from the upstair chamber window . hoi polloi will check to see if the door is unlocked . Many snap photos or video , then upload their pilgrim’s journey . Few of them seem to stop and consider the intrusive nature of their rubber-necking .
“ We ’ll be sitting watching a movie and someone will be yanking on the door , ” she said . “ We ’re open-eyed about keeping the room access operate . ”
After getting disjoint , Danielle refinance the home and bought out her x - husband ’s equity , head some internet sleuths to determine the place had somehow sell for $ 14,000 . ( It did n’t . ) When Danielle remarried in 2014 , she told her new husband that kind of examination around the property would be equivalence for the course of action . “ I kind of sign up for it , " she say . " It ’s not really a with child mickle . Most people are coolheaded . ” Because the family has Ring , the camera - outfit voguish doorbell , she sees people come and go . One Isle of Man came with a giant overindulge creature and sit down with it in front of the house . “ That was a weird affair . ”
The house also gets chain mail addressed to the Simpson family , a likely consequence of fans having some harmless fun . “ I once stick a letter of the alphabet handle to Homer from the Salvation Army , ” she state . “ There have been shampoo samples for Marge and a flyer from PetSmart for Santa ’s Little benefactor . ”
Still Pretty in Pink
Even though it ’s gotten a facelift , the home does n’t often get attention from potential emptor . “ I ’ve never really had an go on it , ” Danielle say . “ People seem for certain feature of speech , and they see a lack of closet space , no first - floor john … it ’s a fun idea but it does n’t get far . ”
The household ’s bequest seems to have prevail beyond the giveaway . Kaufman and Broad shortly considered doing a house based onThe Grinch Who steal Christmas ; Woodley , who was not a regular viewer of the series , continues to be surprise by the attentionThe Simpsonsreceives . “ I did n’t clear how liberal a thing it is for some people . I looked at it as a design challenge . I did n’t think of it in term of the grandness of it . When people today hear I designedTheSimpsonshouse , it ’s like , ‘ Really , oh , my God . ’ ”
For now , Danielle said she ’s very well-chosen in the vicinity and only at times bothered by curious fans . ( It ’s skilful if you do n’t stare into her window . ) And though she ’s still not a vast fan of the show , she does acknowledge the tower yellow fantasm she ’s elected to live in . “ My neighbour ’s dada is really a pastor , ” she said . “ It ’s too well-situated to go there with a Flanders jocularity . ”
Read More Fun Facts AboutThe Simpsons :
A interlingual rendition of this story was put out in 2018 ; it has been update for 2025 .
